Obama sees narrower terror threat, defends drones WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S. beyond the unrelenting war effort of the past dozen years, defining a narrower terror threat from smaller networks and homegrown extremists rather than the grandiose plots of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida. In a lengthy address at the National Defense University, Obama defended his controversial drone-strikes program as a linchpin of the U.S. response to the evolving dang...

Distraught mom becomes face of Oklahoma storm MOORE, Okla. (AP) — A massive tornado was carving its way through town. There was no time to hesitate. LaTisha Garcia had to get to her children. And so she raced against the storm. She had 30 miles to cover from her job in Edmond to Plaza Towers Elementary School, where her 8-year-old daughter Jazmin Rodriguez is a third grader. She lost. The tornado got there first, and the destruction kept her from driving the final few hundred yards. And s...

Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America threw open its ranks Thursday to gay Scouts but not gay Scout leaders — a fiercely contested compromise that some warned could fracture the organization and lead to mass defections of members and donors. Of the roughly 1,400 voting members of the BSA’s National Council who cast ballots, 61 percent supported the proposal drafted by the governing Executive Committee. The policy change takes effec...

Jurors deadlock on Jodi Arias penalty; retrial set PHOENIX (AP) — Jurors who spent five months determining Jodi Arias’ fate couldn’t decide whether she should get life in prison or die for murdering her boyfriend, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case of sex, lies and violence to another 12 people. Judge Sherry Stephens gave a heavy sigh as she announced a mistrial in the penalty phase of the case Thursday and scheduled a July 18 retrial. “This was not your ...

IRS replaces official in tea party controversy WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after she refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing, Lois Lerner was replaced Thursday as director of the Internal Revenue Service division that oversaw agents who targeted tea party groups. Danny Werfel, the agency’s new acting commissioner, told IRS employees in an email that he had selected a new acting head of the division, staying within the IRS to find new leadership. Ken Corbin, a 27-year IRS veteran...

Nearly all US states see hefty drop in teen births NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report. All states but West Virginia and North Dakota showed significant drops over five years. But the Mountain States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah saw rates fall by 30 percent or more. In 22 states, teen Hispanic birth rate...

Why worry? Less aid by Fed would point to recovery WASHINGTON (AP) — Investors have grown nervous that the Federal Reserve will scale back its efforts to boost the U.S. economy sooner than many expected. Yet almost lost in the anxiety that gripped the stock market this week is that whenever the Fed slows its drive to keep interest rates low, it will be cause for celebration: It would mean policymakers think the economy is strong enough to accelerate with less help from the Fed. “We should be w...

Tornado took town’s youngest as it swept through MOORE, Okla. (AP) — One loved the spotlight. Another was nicknamed “The Wall” because of the force he brought to the soccer field. When a top-of-the-scale EF5 tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., it took with it 24 lives. Seven of them were children at Plaza Towers Elementary school; two were only babies. These are the victims’ stories. ——— JaNae Hornsby, 9 One of seven children killed inside the Plaza Towers Elementary School, JaNae loved to ...

I-5 bridge collapses in NW Washington; people in water MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said. The four-lane bridge over the Skagit River collapsed about 7 p.m., Trooper Mark Francis said. There was no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths, he said. It also was not known what caused the colla...

Council members abstain from vote on abstaining YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Three members of a Michigan city council have abstained from voting on a measure that would have prevented them from abstaining on future votes. Ypsilanti City Council member Pete Murdock proposed a resolution Tuesday that would have required council members to only vote “yes” or “no” on each issue unless they had a financial or professional conflict. Mayor Paul Schreiber and council members Susan Moeller and Brian Robb...

AAA: 31.2M drivers to take Memorial Day road trip It’s going to be another busy Memorial Day weekend on the nation’s highways. From Thursday through Monday, 31.2 million Americans will drive 50 miles or more to a beach, campground or other getaway, according to car lobbying group AAA. That’s a small increase from last year but still well short of the record 37.3 million people who drove during the holiday in 2005. Gas will cost slightly more this year. The national average price for a gallon ...

Man shot to death while questioned in Boston probe ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Chechen immigrant was shot to death by authorities early Wednesday after he turned violent while being questioned about his ties to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, officials said. Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was gunned down at his Orlando townhouse during a meeting with an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state troopers, authorities said. The agent was taken to a hospital with ...

Boy Scout leaders to vote on lifting gay ban GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — As protesters made one last stand, the Boy Scouts of America’s leadership began a conference Wednesday that was expected to culminate in a long-anticipated vote on whether to allow openly gay Scouts — a decision that, either way, could deeply affect the organization’s membership and funding. Scouting leaders from around the country gathered at a resort in Grapevine, Texas, near the youth organization’s suburban Dallas h...

37-year-old man charged in Wash. state ricin scare SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A man was arrested Wednesday in a case involving last week’s discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin. A grand jury indictment accuses Matthew Ryan Buquet, 37, of mailing a death threat to U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle in Spokane on May 14. A search of federal court records turned up no indication that Buquet had ever appeared before Van Sickle or had any connection to the judge. The indictm...

3rd grader who loved to sing among tornado victims MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Nicknamed “The Wall,” 8-year-old Kyle Davis loved soccer and going to Monster Truck exhibitions at the fairgrounds with his grandfather. JaNae Hornsby, 9, loved to draw, sing, and be a big sister and cousin to her younger relatives. The two were among the young victims of Monday’s monstrous tornado, their small bodies pulled from the rubble of Plaza Towers Elementary School after it was reduced to a massive heap of bricks a...

School storm protection is spotty in tornado zones MOORE, Okla. (AP) — With its single-story design and cinder-block walls, Plaza Towers Elementary School may have seemed sturdy when it was built a couple of generations ago. But a powerful tornado revealed the building’s lack of modern safety standards, destroying the school and killing seven students. Unlike several other schools in the Oklahoma City area, Plaza Towers had no “safe room” in which students and teachers could seek protection fr...

Jury in Arias trial adjourns for day after impasse PHOENIX (AP) — Jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial said Wednesday they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or death for killing her one-time boyfriend, prompting the judge to instruct them to keep trying. The panel reported its impasse after only about two and a half hours of deliberations. Judge Sherry Stephens told jurors to try to identify areas of agreement and disagreement as the...

Median CEO pay rises to $9.7 million in 2012 CEO pay has been going in one direction for the past three years: up. The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million in 2012, a 6.5 percent increase from a year earlier that was aided by a rising stock market, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm. CEO pay, which fell two years straight during the Great Recession but rose 24 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011, ...

More than 50 hurt when Indiana school buses crash NORTH WEBSTER, Ind. (AP) — A school bus slammed into the back of another one Wednesday afternoon, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving four buses in northern Indiana, leaving about 50 middle and high students with non-serious injuries and one driver seriously injured. The crash injured 55 people, including three of the four bus drivers, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Chad Hill said. One of the drivers was taken by helicopte...

Doctors save Ohio boy by ’printing’ an airway tube In a medical first, doctors used plastic particles and a 3-D laser printer to create an airway splint to save the life of a baby boy who used to stop breathing nearly every day. It’s the latest advance from the booming field of regenerative medicine, making body parts in the lab. In the case of Kaiba (KEYE’-buh) Gionfriddo, doctors didn’t have a moment to spare. Because of a birth defect, the little Ohio boy’s airway kept collapsing, causing h...